The Impact of Vehicular Emissions on Air Quality in Uyo, Nigeria

Roadways, especially road intersections, contribute in no small way to the degradation of air quality in modern cities. This is largely due to toxic emissions from the ever-increasing number of vehicles playing these roads. For rapidly growing cities like Uyo, Nigeria, periodic and quantitative analysis of vehicular emissions may provide knowledge needed to stave off disastrous air pollution. Consequently, this study characterised vehicular emissions in four different locations in Uyo metropolis. Particular locations of the study were: Ekpri Nsukara Junction by Nwaniba Road (Station 1), Uyo City Centre (Station 2), Ikot Ekpene Road by Udi Street (Station 3) and Edet Akpan Avenue by Oron Road (Station 4). Attair 5X Multigas Detector was used to identify and measure the air pollutant concentrations in the four stations of study from July to September 2015. The average concentration of CO obtained in stations 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 8.5 ppm, 3.58 ppm, 11.08 ppm and 3.50 ppm respectively. The highest average concentration of CO was obtained in station 3. Also, the mean concentration of NOx and SOx was less than 0.01 ppm in all four stations. These and the other pollutants measured, H2S, NH3, CO2 and SPM, were found to be well within the habitable range of pollutant concentration as stipulated by the World Health Organization and other relevant bodies.